Today marks 170 years since the Irish Tricolour was first flown publicly. 

It was flown by Irish patriot Thomas Francis Meagher on March 7th 1848 and he said:

“The white in the centre signifies a lasting truce between the orange and the green, and I trust that beneath its folds the hands of the Irish protestant and the Irish catholic may be clasped, in generous and heroic brotherhood.”

  On Easter Monday, April 24th 1916, the IRB, Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army flew the Irish tricolour from the top of the GPO in Dublin.